A sports car is indeed a sports car.
It was so smooth to drive.
Sitting in the car, I couldn't help but bitterly self-deprecate.
Chen Yang, look at how pitiful you are.
The apocalypse is the only time you'd get to ride in a sports car!
You deserve to be a poor teacher!
The car quickly made its way around the corner to the other side of the alley.
There were still a few scattered walkers wandering along the road, but we had no intention of dealing with them.
We angled the car sideways and squeezed into the alley, which had almost been blocked by the previous car.
The two young men were pale, walking unsteadily, probably scared out of their wits.
Shen Feng was at the rear, and we all moved quickly and quietly through the alley.
When we reached the alley entrance, Suo Tian hissed at us to keep quiet, then leaned out and looked toward the front door, surveying the area for a while.
He suddenly waved his hand at us, signaling to follow, and then swiftly stepped out of the alley.
We hurried to catch up, bypassed the convenience store, and saw that the previously empty space only had a few lone walkers aimlessly wandering around in the distance.
The ones from earlier must have all followed the car onto the main road.
Not daring to waste any time, we quickly ran back to the yard after observing our surroundings.
It wasn't until the main gate was shut and the iron wire was twisted tight that I finally breathed a sigh of relief.
The two young men stood there, dazed and still pale, but they began to curiously survey the yard.
"Come on, let's go upstairs," I called out to them.
Back inside, we found Lili and Wang Jun had also come up.
When they saw us, everyone visibly relaxed.
We put away the weapon, cleaned off the blood splatters, and then sat down in the living room.
It was clear to everyone that new members were joining the group.
While changing clothes, the two young men had already introduced themselves.
The one in the black jacket was named Jun Di, and the one in white was named Yin Shangtang.
They were college students from the same university.
They had been studying in the city, and after the chaos erupted, they had endured a lot of hardship to survive.
"Did you just come from the city today?" I asked.
This was the first news we had gotten from outside the county since Shen Xue and the others arrived.
Jun Di shook his head. "Not today. We stayed in a village on the way for over half a month. We left the city about half a month ago."
"When you left, what was the situation in the city like?" Suo Tian asked.
"Total chaos. People were attacking each other in the streets. There are a mall with hundreds of people, and we wanted to stay there, but they refused to open the doors."
"Was it like here?"
Yin Shangtang, who had been silent until now, spoke up. "It might be a little different. There were still a lot of people alive. When we left the city, we saw many people rushing into the mall to steal food."
"Were there any military forces?"
"Military?"
He paused for a moment, then realized and continued, "I wouldn't know about that. But over a month ago, we saw a lot of helicopters flying overhead, and after that, there were fewer of those... things on the streets."
Helicopters? Suo Tian turned to look at me, seemingly puzzled.
We weren't far from the city, just a few dozen kilometers away.
How come we hadn't seen any helicopters flying over?
I shook my head to indicate that I didn't know.
"Maybe the helicopters were followed by the sound. So, what happened in the city after that?" Shen Feng asked.
"If I had to say, there were a lot more police cars on the streets the next day, but after a few days, we didn't see any at all. I don't know if they went somewhere or if they hid."
As soon as Yin Shangtang finished speaking, Jun Di immediately added, "We felt something was wrong, so we decided to hide in a place with fewer people. Fewer people... should mean fewer of those things. After wandering around, we saw someone hanging clothes on a building nearby, so we thought maybe we could stay there for a while. But who would have known..."
"Alright, stop thinking about that. Staying with us is definitely safer than staying in that building," I comforted them.
"Where are you guys from?" Yangyang, who had been silent until now, suddenly spoke up.
"We're both from Sichuan," Jun Di replied.
During this, I noticed that Suo Tian's brows slightly furrowed.
"I heard people from Sichuan like spicy food. Looks like I can't keep that box of Lao Gan Ma Chili sauces to myself now," Shen Xue said, putting on a disappointed expression.
Jun Di let out a light laugh, and the pale color drained from his face a little, returning some color to his cheeks.
"Well then, in that case, you can stay here without worry. You don't need to worry about food."
As soon as I finished speaking, both of them nodded eagerly, their faces full of excitement.
After briefly explaining some of the daily precautions, I showed them to the third floor.
Like the fourth floor, the third floor had four rooms.
I had been worried that Lili, with her big belly, might find it uncomfortable to have two more people, but to my surprise, the couple was very happy.
Lili even joked that now they'd finally have enough people to play card game.
At lunch, I specially made a big pot of soup with some meat, flour, and vermicelli, steamed a whole rice cooker full of rice, and also made a large plate of fried pancakes.
While cooking, I remembered something.
The old lady Wang from the building across had planted a lot of vegetables on her rooftop.
She must have some vegetable seeds at home.
If I could bring some back and try planting them in the flower bed on our rooftop, it could work.
If it's successful, we could later go out and find stores that sell seeds, and then we wouldn't have to worry about not having vegetables to eat.
During lunch, I mentioned this idea to Suo Tian, but before he could respond, the surrounding discussions erupted, drowning out his voice.
Everyone was excited, except for Rongrong, who had a frown on her face—she didn't like eating vegetables.
After a lively discussion, Suo Tian also agreed that it was a feasible plan.
Once we decided, we acted immediately.
After a brief discussion, in the afternoon, Suo Tian and Shen Feng sneaked into the building in front.
I stood on the balcony, closely watching the surroundings.
Less than ten minutes later, they came back from the building, each carrying large plastic bags—big, black ones.
The bags were bulging.
They not only brought back a lot of seed packets, but also two large bags of cabbage.
Shen Feng said there were still many more on the rooftop of the other building.
This was truly a pleasant surprise.
After all, cabbage is an excellent food for storage.
We planted some cold-resistant vegetables in the flower beds on the rooftop, which had originally been decorated.
Now, all we had to do was water the plants regularly and wait for them to grow.
Thinking about having fresh vegetables to eat in the future, my mood improved for several days in a row.
After spending more time together, I realized that Jun Di and Yin Shangtang were both very eloquent.
With their Sichuan accents, they were quite humorous and full of energy, radiating the bright, positive vibes typical of modern university students.
Before the apocalypse, they must have been quite popular with the girls at school.
Perhaps it was the peaceful life we had been living these days that subconsciously made them feel as if they had returned to the world before the disaster.
They had completely relaxed.
But this wasn't necessarily a good thing, so I decided to have them join Suo Tian's daily morning workout routine as well.
Time always flies during peaceful moments, and in the blink of an eye, a month had passed.
During this time, the TV news never stopped, the electricity remained on, the mobile signal had not been restored, and the outside world was still roamed by walkers.
Everything seemed the same as before.
It felt like nothing had changed, but the days that seemed calm on the surface were gradually altering the inner world of each of us.
.....
I gradually realized that Zheng Rongrong was a little pervert.
It had only been a month since Jun Di and Yin Shangtang moved in, and she had already completely turned traitor.
Every morning, as soon as she opened her eyes, she would shuffle around in her slippers, wrap herself in a small cotton jacket, and run up to the third floor with a "pala pala" sound.
Jun Di and Yin Shangtang's handsome faces had completely captured her little heart.
She would spend every day curled up in one of their arms, blissfully unaware of everything else, almost forgetting her own surname.
Shen Xue and Mei Jing hated it so much that they would sit together all day, solemnly cursing Rongrong for forgetting loyalty in the face of love.
They wished she would go downstairs and knock all her loose teeth out.
Fortunately, Rongrong still slept with Yangyang every night, and this was only because Yangyang could tolerate her daily bedtime stories, where she would make up various versions of the love story between Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
However, Rongrong's happy life didn't last long.
She caught a fever—high fever.
I don't know if it was because Shen Xue and Mei Jing's resentment was too strong, but this illness came on suddenly and violently.
In order to avoid spreading it to Lili, I had to issue an order prohibiting her from going to the third floor anymore.
Rongrong, who wasn't defeated by the high fever, immediately turned into a wilted cabbage leaf upon hearing my words, collapsing onto the bed, almost unconscious.
She took the fever-reducing medicine on time every day, but the high fever still kept recurring without stopping.
Shen Xue and Mei Jing, though stubborn on the outside, were soft-hearted and stayed by her bedside all day.
We were all almost in a state of desperation, and Yangyang also wore a worried expression all the time.
Though Suo Tian didn't show it too much, I noticed that his visits to Rongrong's room had noticeably increased.
Jun Di and Yin Shangtang also ran up to the floor every day, but their presence couldn't catch Rongrong's attention at all.
Her flushed face couldn't hide the dullness in her little eyes.
Everyone was enveloped in a grayish, gloomy atmosphere.
On the fourth morning, Rongrong fell into a complete coma.
Shen Xue and Mei Jing cried as they shook and jolted her, but she didn't respond at all.
After Shen Feng made lunch, only Suo Tian, he, and I sat at the table.
Yangyang, Shen Xue, and Mei Jing never left Rongrong's bedside, constantly trying to cool her down with physical methods.
They had been doing this for several days, but it didn't seem to help at all.
The meal was eaten in an incredibly heavy silence.
"How about we go out again in the afternoon to the pharmacy and see if we can find more medicine?" Shen Feng asked.
I put down my chopsticks. "I took some of every kind of medicine from the store, what they have, we have here."
"Right." Shen Feng suddenly straightened his posture.
"Could there be anyone over at Li Jianguo's place who used to be a doctor? Or someone who knows how to treat children? Those aunties must have taken care of kids before; maybe they know what to do?"
"We'll go over now." Suo Tian put down his chopsticks, his tone firm and decisive.